Actually, I was thinking that I’d probably leave the server down for now. Nothing against you guys but I’m saving lots of money on electricity by not having an extra box. I can upload the world files for you guys if you’d like. Or if somebody wants to help contribute to the costs of powering the box, I’d be happy to bring it back up.

Okay, regarding the usage of the Google map thing, here’s what they have to say about it, which seems fairly straightforward:

Within the output directory you will find two things: an index.html file, and a directory hierarchy full of images. To view your world, simply open index.html in a web browser. Internet access is required to load the Google Maps API files, but you otherwise don’t need anything else.

You can throw these files up to a web server to let others view your map. You do not need a Google Maps API key (as was the case with older versions of the API), so just copying the directory to your web server should suffice. You are, however, bound by the Google Maps API terms of service.

So the index.html just needs to be someplace accessible, with that directory of images somewhere it can find it, it seems. And whomever accesses it needs to have internet available to tap the Google Maps API.

As to the Google Maps API ToS, I took a careful readthrough this morning (I love the look of legalese in the morning!) and aside from the all the stock terms and liabilities items, the things I think might be worth mentioning here includes:

— 4.2 Limits on Your Use of the Service: Long story short, they can basically choose to put a limit the number of transactions we can run through their service. Somehow, compared to everyone else using this stuff, I doubt a group our size is likely to run into any such limits anytime soon.

— 4.3 Advertising: Google doesn’t currently push advertisements through it’s API, but they reserve the right to do so in the future, with 90 days notice on their blogs.

— 4.4(a) Changes to the Service: Google also reserves the right to discontinue the Google Maps API entirely, or Deprecate the current version and create a new one. They proclaim an intention to continue basic support for deprecated versions for 3 years.

— 7.4 Brand Features License: Basically, don’t fuck with Google’s branding. Do not obscure/alter/etc. Do not claim as your own. The usual.

As the author notes, the API key isn’t needed (’cause we’re not using content they have generated, and I think this qualifies as a Static Image Google Map, which no longer needs keys). So as long as we agree with those Terms (which I see no particular problems with), we’re more or less good to go.

Yeah it looks like I can just tar up the output files and ftp them over to dustpuppy and host them from there. I’ll try it without the API key first.

If we do need an API key, we have options for the domain. I currently own the domains lakemasoniccenter.org, firstlutheranelca.org, and flippingcoinsband.com. If we want to register one for the minecraft server, we could do that with no problems. .orgs are free and .coms are $5 one-time fee.

Okay, so Josh has been kind enough to spend a silly amount of processing power to generate us a highly detailed map of our land. It is available here (and I’ll be including a link in the main post here, so you don’t have to hunt for comments in the future). Josh has told me the map should be updating regularly.

Features include:
— A compass (top-right) indicating North with its red vane (which oddly, is in the bottom-left).
— Signs. A box just to the left of the compass allows you to display all the signs on the map (as icons you can click to read).
— Specific site linking: An address bar can be found in the bottom-right, which displays a link that will take anyone following the link to your current view of the map.
— Zoom and such. I’m sure you’ve all used Google Maps at some point.

Also: Phil, this is next to your place; is it yours? We’ve been kinda curious since the map came out.

The problem is that it’s compressing live data which changes and snafus the archive. I’ll try archiving without compression and see if that works and then I’ll try compressing the tar archive after the fact.

I knew that eventually I’d have to make the call that we can’t keep old world snapshots indefinitely – not at 3.3GB per day. What do you think is a good retention policy? Daily for 30 days and then just the 1st of each month permanently archived?

Well, I’d leave it to your server admin sensibilities, but I’d even be comfortable with 14 days of daily, with the first of the month going back something like 3 or 6 months. If there’s a problem we don’t spot in those timeframes, we’re kinda failing anyway is my thinking. Maybe I’m wrong, dunno.

I still have that external USB drive you gave me. It’s idle at the moment since I have the 2T I’m using for backups and the 250GB I’m using to extend the Linux storage on my Alienware. If you want it back, just let me know. I’m free NEXT Thursday for gaming! (It’s Maundy Thursday though so I don’t know if anyone wants to show up somewhere if there’s no school.)

Everything seems to be configured fine as far as ports and routing. I note that I can connect without error from both Windows and Linux. Perhaps Chad’s Java JRE is borked? Maybe it’d be worth having someone else try it and see if they can connect.

Enough to give me some incentive to spend the time/money to keep it running? No offense but that’s what caused it to go down. Running the box 24/7 with Minecraft as the only thing on it was putting a dent in the electric bill.